Sunday – May 23

The second band on the bill today are the Norwegian guys from Keep Of Kalessin. This is one of my personal favourites and I’m in for a treat. The technical black metal with thrashy guitarwork may not be appreciated by everybody, but it must be said that these men know how to play! The band opens with “Dragon Iconography”, from their recent album ’Reptilian’. When they launch into this song, all we see is drummer Vyl on stage, but soon we hear Obsidian C's typical guitar sound and then he comes running onto the stage. After a few moments, the rest of the band follows and the violent storm of fast blastbeats, tight guitarriffs and heavy grooves grows bigger. The set that the Norwegians have put together for us today contains some older songs such as “Ascendant“ and “Crown of the Kings“ and off the new album we hear excellent renditions of  “Judgement” and “The Awakening”. The band plays like their lives depend on it and their heads don’t stop banging. Even drummer Vyl bangs like crazy during the show while he bombards us with blastbeats. Of course they play the song “Dragontower”, their entry for the Norwegian qualifying round for the Eurovision song festival. Keep of Kalessin became third for the Eurovision song festival in their home country. The band puts on an excellent show with a very technical and energetic set. Fourty minutes just weren’t enough and, if you ask me, they were placed way too early on this bill. Fortunately, this gave us the opportunity to catch up and have a few drinks with our favourite Norwegian buddies, haha. (Talitha Martijn)

When the Swedish glamrockers called Crashdiet enter the stage, it is only two in the afternoon. Quite an early slot for this band. The band was formed in 2000 and their music contains influences mostly from bands like Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row and Hanoi Rocks. In 2005, their debut album ‘Rest in Sleaze’ was released and the band received good critics and reviews for it. However, in 2006 their singer Dave Lepard committed suicide at the age of 25. Despite of this tragic event, the band fortunately continued and released a new album in 2007 entitled ‘The Unattractive Revolution’ followed by their most recent album ‘Generation Wild’. The band takes you on a trip back to the great eighties. These glamrockers look fantastic and they play like a younger version of Motley Crue and Hanoi Rocks! The Crashdiet guys kick off with the songs “So Alive” and “Queen Obscene”. These youngsters know how to entertain the crowd. The band rocks on with the new track “Bound To Fall” and “In The Raw”. A number of guys in the crowd have made an effort to look as “eighties” as possible, it’s fantastic but also hilarious! The band has totally caught me with their catchy songs and great presentation. There are also many girls in front of the stage during this show. Crashdiet is are goodlooking band, like most Swedish men and sometimes us girls just like something to look at besides the music. We hear  “Like a Sin” and “Breakin' The Chainz” and a new song off the ‘Generation Wild’ album, entitled “Generation Wild”. These young glamrockers played us a pretty great show which allowed us to relive the eighties. I can’t wait for club shows to go and check out this band again! (Talitha Martijn)

The next band is not quite my cup of tea: the Israeli band Orphaned Land who released their fourth album entitled ‘The Never Ending Way Of ORWarriOR’ at the beginning of this year. Orphaned Land was founded in 1991 by a group of four students. In 1994 their debut album ‘Sahara’ came out, containing firm death metal mixed with Eastern influences. Because of their difficult position in Israel, which is a country that hardly accepts metal, it is very difficult for this band to get out and play. Taking this into account, it can be said that the Rockhard organisation has booked a unique band. When the band hits the stage with lots of grandeur, it becomes apparent that they are not too well-known. It is not too crowded in front of the stage. This doesn’t stop the band from giving it their all, they are extremely enthusiastic and friendly. When singer Kobi Farhi jokingly refers to his white robes “We’re Orphaned Land from Israel, and No I am Not Jesus Christ" the ice is broken and more people come forward to the stage. The band brings us about 45 minutes of live music, from melodic death metal to progressive passages larded with Eastern sounds and influences.  The songs contain different styles of singing like clean vocals, grunts and growls in a mixture of English, Hebrew and Arabic. The song titles I can comprehend are “Norra el Norra“,”Sapari” (during which a belly dancer performs on stage), and “Ocean Land”. This band deserves to support Metallica in their home country, good job. (Eugene Straver)

The next band on the bill today is Virgin Steele. This American heavy metal band has been kicking it since 1981 with frontman David Defeis. The band opens with the lengthy, epic song “Immortal I Stand (The Birth Of Adam)”, taken from their most recent album ‘Visions of Eden‘ (2006). The show is continued with songs such as “The Wine Of Violence”, “Through Blood And Fire” and “Crown Of Glory”. Singer David Defeis’ vocals sound pretty good and the band’s sound reminds of bands like Manowar now and then. As we don’t really know this band, we decide to walk around the festival grounds for a bit. In the background we do still hear “Symphony Of Steel”, “Noble Savage” and the final song “Kingdom Of The Fearless”. (Martina Schouten)

Around 17.30 it is time for the second American act of the day. It’s still very early when the Seatlle based band Nevermore enters the stage. The band recently recorded a new album, so the expectations today are very high. We were fortunate enough to see the band perform twice last week with their new live guitarist who makes their sound more complete. This young man goes by the name Atilla Voros, he has worked with vocalist Warrel Dane before to promote Dane’s solo album. Nevermore is known for sensitive and emotional songs mixed with solid and heavy songs. The band has a great repertoire to choose from. They play “Beyond Within” followed by “The River Dragon Has Come” and after two songs we can already conclude that the band is in top shape today! The band seems more complete with the contribution of Atilla, who doesn’t just play well but also gives a great stage presentation. Early in the set we get to hear a new track in the shape of “Your Poison Throne”, followed by the furious song “Born”. The crowd surfers are flying over the barriers in great numbers and are encouraged to keep it up by singer Warrel Dane. The band looks like they are having fun on stage and the audience is having a ball. Superior axemaster Jeff Loomis gives it 200% with his perfect fingerwork and beautiful solo’s. We hear the new track “Emptiness Unobstructed”, the classic “Inside Four Walls” and another new one entitled “The Termination Proclamation”.  Now it’s time for a couple of my favourite songs such as the grand “This Godless Endeavor” followed by the emotional (especially for the ladies, according to Warrel Dane) “Heart Collector”. This song gives many a metalhead goosebumps, I know it does that for me! We are almost at the end of the set as the Americans rock on with the new track “The Obsidian Conspiracy”. When the band launches into the last song, they are actually out of playing time but singer Dane calls out “Like my Good Friend Chuck Billy says, I want you to come Over The Wall cause we are the Enemies of Reality“ and  he continues to sing. Halfway through this song the roadies and technicians are nervously pacing the stage and they lower the Nevermore backdrop. The band does not seem the slightest bit intimidated and they rage on, ending the show. It must be said that Nevermore played an excellent and professional show here today, their sound was excellent, just like their on-stage presentation. A sublime show. We had a blast and I’m guessing the band did, too. (Talitha Martijn)

DA lot of people came especially for the popular powermetalband, Sonata Arctica from Finland. We still have to see if they are as popular as Nevermore because the amphitheatre was completely packed during the Nevermore show, and now it is half empty. These gentlemen start with “Flag In The Ground” followed by “Black Sheep”. As soon as the band notices that a large part of the audience is not very interested, it seems that the band only partly convinces everybody, and the motivation is hard to find with some band members. Singer Tony Kakko tries to cheer up the crowd, but this only Works for some of them. The band continues with “Paid In Full”, “The Last Amazing”, “Juliet” and “Fullmoon”. The kind of lame performance is continued with the songs “Deadskin”, “In Black & White” and “Don't Say A Word”. Around fifteen minutes before the show time is over, the band leaves the stage and all we can do is waiting for today’s headliner. (Martina Schouten)

Before the headliner takes the stage, we are entertained with the completely unnecessary karaoke-gewinner-jam which allows the karaoke finalists to each sing a song on the mainstage. As tradition has it, the German band Rokken provides the music. It all doesn’t sound too bad but it’s just not what we are here for. For those who are interested, the winner is singer Patrick Sühl. The headlining band Rage have brought an entire orchestra with them, and so the whole stage has to be converted which takes quite a bit of time and so it’s Mambo Kurt’s turn to entertain the crowd. The clownesque Mambo Kurt knows how to rape classic songs in is own terrible way with a little help from his old organ. Anyone who has been to Wacken has most probably heard Mambo Kurt play on several occasions. Today he mangles songs from bands such as Rage Against The Machine (Killing In The Name Of), Van Halen (Jump), Guns ’n Roses (Paradise City) and Slayer (South Of Heaven). Personally, I cannot appreciate this. It looks like the crowd is loving it, though, they all sing along to his tunes and It doesn’t take long before the crowd starts dancing through the Amphitheatre. (Talitha Martijn)

Finally, today’s headliner is about to start the show: Rage is here today with 31 musicians of the Lingua Mortis Orchestra. The German Rage trio has been active for many years under the command of bandleader Peavy Wagner. Their first album ‘Reign Of Fear’ dates from 1985 and this year they have recorded their nineteenth studio-album, entitled ‘Strings To A Web’. Whenever Rage plays a show, the fans know what to expect: excellent power metal with thrashy riffs, high quality guitarwork by Victor Smolski and the charismatic voice of frontman Peavy. To me, Rage is a good band but I’m not a real fan. With their professional approach, they do make a very nice headliner. The band kicks off with a beautiful rendition of “Turn The Page“ in which the orchestra plays a great part and fills up the song. I guess with an orchestra, it doesn’t really matter which band is playing, it will always create an extra dimension. We get to hear classy renditions of “From The Cradle To The Grave”, in which Victor Smolski’s wife Jen Majura sings the female vocal part. We also hear songs such as “No Regrets“ and the new song “Empty Hollow”. Despite the fact that I am not a fan, I must admit that the songs sound excellent and the myriad of orchestra really add an extra dimension. The sound is amazing and the packed Amphitheatre enjoys every minute of this special show. There is lots of applauding and singing going on in the crowd, and the band is living it up on stage. Towards the end of the set we hear the songs “Alive But Dead“ and the classic “Higher Than The Sky” after which the 2010 edition of the Rock Hard festival has come to an end. (Eugene Straver)

We can conclude that Rage was a worthy headliner, even though Keep Of Kalessin and especially Nevermore gave the best performances today. For us there is one winner this festival and that’s Nevermore.

Götz Kühnemund and his crew have done it once again. This Rock Hard edition will be the talk of the town for a long time. It was a killer weekend with lots of great music and entertaining stage presentations. The food was fine, the weather was excellent and the beer was cold. The line-up was perfect: a lot of musical variety. Festival chief Kühnemund was walking around with a huge smile on his face the whole time and he was certainly not the only one! We had a blast and we expect most of the crowd did, too. We can hardly wait until the next edition of this intimate and fun festival. Even though we don’t know the line-up yet, we will surely be there again next year!

One more thing, if you have had to miss this festival, or if you are just curious, it will be on TV on the German WDR channel. The whole event has been filmed and you can watch the footage on the night of July 25 from 00.00 hrs, in a special about the Rock Hard festival 2010. (Talitha Martijn, Eugene Straver and Martina Schouten)

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